


An Explanation

by ilwin



Category: Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:08:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23547412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilwin/pseuds/ilwin
Summary: I read somewhere that Ian and Barbara's explanation of their two year dissapearance was missionary work, but it just didn't sound right. So this is my version :)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	An Explanation

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Louise F. for beta-read.

The police officer tiredly rubbed his forehead. “So, you’re trying to tell me that one day you felt an irresistible urge to travel, so you just went and did so.“ It was a long day and these two were getting on his nerves with all the nonsense they were trying to make him believe.

Ian sighed. “Yes.“

”Without even packing? Right from the school?“

“Yes.“ This time it was Barbara who answered. It surely sounded crazy, but what could they say? That an alien grandpa kidnapped them?

”Without even saying goodbye to your mother, Miss Wright?“ the policeman turned directly to Barbara. “According to your colleagues you are very close to your mother. And it was her who came to the police station to announce your disappearance. Why didn’t you send a message to her?“

”She would have never agree with such a trip,“ replied Barbara, as she had prepared to answer. It was true that Joan would never agree with wandering “all over the world“ like that, but the truth was as well that Barbara would never leave without a single word.

“Hm,“ said the policeman doubtfully. Then he turned to Ian. “And what about you, Mr. Chesterton? You said you lived alone and your disappearance was announced by your brother. Did you send the message to your parents so they knew where you had gone?“

”No,“ replied Ian slowly. “They hardly know how much time has passed since we last saw each other, that’s why they didn’t miss me.“

Barbara caught the touch of sadness in his voice and recalled the few occasions when they had spoken about Ian’s parents and their health; she reached out her hand to squeeze Ian’s comfortingly.

The policeman took a note and fell silent for a moment, looking discontented. Then he fixed his eyes on both of them again. “We had questioned you separately and your statements about the time you had been missing were identical, but that doesn’t say much because both of you said almost nothing. Which is not enough. With such unexplained time in your personal history, you could even be Cold war spies...“

”We would surely have had some great cover story if we were,“ said Ian grumpily.

“Hmm…“ the policeman gave a small grunt of discontent. “Maybe… But what if you did it deliberately… We don’t have a cover story, so we can’t be spies, hm?“

Ian and Barbara stayed silent, not knowing what to answer to such an accusation.

The policeman made another note to his notebook and heaved a sigh. “And what about the girl? One of your students…“ he checked his notes again. “Susan Foreman. She went missing the same day as you did. When we were searching for her at the address that school secretary gave us, there was nothing there, just an old junkyard.“

Yeah, tell me about it, thought both Ian and Barbara at the same moment.

”Well then?“ asked the policeman impatiently when they weren’t answering his question at once. “What can you tell me about the girl? Did she travel with you? Where is she now? And how is it possible that the address was fake?“

“They lived in secret,“ answered Barbara and the policeman looked at her suspiciously.

”In secret?“

”Yes.“ Barbara nodded, trying to think out quickly something that would sound well. At least a bit. “Because of their… wealth. Her and her grandpa, they lived together. And we travelled with both of them. But they didn’t come back to England. They stayed in New York,“ she finished. Ian beside her wondered how she could manage to sound so calm, knowing they could say so little that it would probably end up sounding made-up anyway.

The moment of silence followed. The policeman was examining his notes closely and Ian and Barbara exchanged anxious looks, wondering what would come next.

Then the policeman made a face of disagreement and turned to them again. “And you expect me to believe such nonsense?“

”But it’s true.“ Ian shrugged helplessly.

”I don’t think so.“ The policeman gave him a slightly wry look. “Either you made this all up or you’re not telling _all there is to tell._ “ He leaned on the table with his hands clenched and looked at them seriously. “So, I recommend you to tell me the whole truth right now or you’ll be in trouble.“

Ian and Barbara were clueless. What now? We can’t tell him the true, can we?

”We can’t say more,“ spoke Ian slowly after a moment. “Susan’s grandpa is…“ He paused because he couldn’t think of anything that he could say, but Barbara completed the sentence instead of him.

”A scientist,“ she blurted out a sudden idea. “And the trip was… related to his research. But it’s a secret. He goes on with his research in America,“ she added quickly, keeping in mind what she had said before.

The policeman took the notes. “Secret research, a scientist living in secret with his granddaughter… a wealthy scientist, according to what you said… travelling round the world because of his research…“ he pointed out some events from their statement, slowly shaking his head in disbelief.

”And what would a scientist like that need two high school teachers for?“ he asked suspiciously after a while. “I think you’re just fooling me and I’m starting to lose my patience.“

At the very moment a knock on the door interrupted him and at the sound of his annoyed “Come in!“ a constable came in.

”There is a man that would like to talk to you, sir,“ he announced, looking rather nervous.

“What man?“ snapped the policeman. “I don’t have time for nonsense, I’m questioning these suspects if you don’t know.“

”I know, sir, he was… he mentioned them,“ said the constable uncertainly. He wanted to go on, but then some noise came from behind the door and in the next moment they swung open to reveal a brown-haired young man in a purple-brown frock coat, waistcoat and a bowtie in kind of an old-fashioned outfit. Coming like that to a questioning at a police station was giving him the look of a slightly eccentric millionaire.

”Hello, everybody! Sorry for the delay traffic is awful.“

The policeman stood up from his chair, looking angry, and the constable quickly withdrew.

Ian and Barbara exchanged another look, this time completely confused.

”And who the hell are you? How dare you to burst into questioning like that?“ The policeman snapped out.

A strange man grinned widely. “John Smith,“ he introduced himself, while pulling a small black sleeve out of his breast pocket. “Of course, that’s not my real name as you can guess, but you know, one can’t go with his own name when working at such places, eh?“ He showed opened the case to the policeman so he could see what appeared to be his identification.

The policeman turned his shocked look from the eccentric looking man to the small rectangle before his eyes and read it out loud: “The Highest Royal Security Office For Special Cases; personal secretary of…“ he paused and raised his eyes. “No,“ he said disbelievingly.

”Yes!“ said the man called John Smith with delight and took a quick look at the paper. “Oh, didn’t aim that high,“ he murmured to himself but immediately turned back to the policeman.

”I thought my friends here could be in trouble because of their long missing so I came to help,“ he said and winked conspiratorially at Ian and Barbara, who watched the scene before them, unable to speak or even just move.

The policeman stared at John Smith for a moment without a word and then raised his eyebrows suspiciously. “So… you’re the grandfather of Susan Foreman?“ he asked rather absurdly.

The man chuckled. “Do I look like anyone’s grandfather? Noo!“ He accompanied his speech with wild gesturing. “But I know him and his granddaughter too of course. And Mr. Chesterton and Miss Wright were travelling with them.“

The policeman’s eyes wandered around as if he was searching for some firm point before everything around him would fall apart in front of him. Then his notes on the table caught his eyes and he recalled what had been said there a moment ago.

”So the secret research was made for your office?“ he asked, unwittingly helping his opponent.

John Smith glanced at Ian and Barbara with kind of an appreciative look. “Exactly. Doctor Foreman works for us and Mr. Chesterton and Miss Wright were helping him for some time.“

”But why would you need two high school teachers for such secret research?“ The policeman didn’t want to give up easily.

John Smith waved his arms frantically, almost hitting the policeman in the face this time. “Well, because of Susan of course! She needed to go on with her studies, but Doctor Foreman had to go on with his travels because of the research and so they took the two teachers with them. Science and History, that’s two most important subjects, isn’t it?“

“And she doesn’t need to learn anymore?“ tried policeman to find some gap in the statement.

”Of course she does. But they settled for some time, so she can go on with her studies there,“ replied John Smith as if he knew what Barbara had said a while ago.

Another moment of silence followed. Ian and Barbara were gazing at the strange man, wondering who could he be. Did the Doctor send him to help? How else could he know about them and the Doctor and Susan… But he looked and acted so weird… How could someone like the Doctor send someone like this? And how would the Doctor know they might need some help at all?

”And why didn’t you send any note? To Miss Wright’s mother? To the school? To anyone?“ The policeman was tireless in questioning, as a good policeman should be.

John Smith turned to him with a look of great disbelief. “It was secret research. _Top secret!_ It would lost its secrecy if we told anyone, wouldn’t it?“

”Ah, yes, that would be silly,“ admitted the policeman but didn’t seem to be completely convinced. “And why wouldn’t that office of yours make some kind of cover story for them?“

”Doctor Foreman needed to leave in a bit of a hurry,“ replied John Smith with a serious face. “We couldn’t wait for Susan to finish the school year and we had to resort to an improvised solution with her studies.“

The policeman still looked doubtful. “How can I know you’re not just some accomplice though? Covering these two?“

John Smith rolled his eyes. “People,“ he sighed, more to himself, and then reached for his breast pocket again. “Right then. I’ll show you some credentials related to the secret research, but you won’t speak anywhere about it, because it’s top sec-ret! Ok?“ He stuck the black case in front of the policeman’s eyes again.

Barbara and Ian looked at each other in confusion since it was obviously the same sleeve as he had shown before, but judging by the policeman’s careful reading of the text, it contained something else now. To top it off when the policeman finished reading and took a breath to say something, John Smith hid the sleeve behind his back, took it out on the other side right after and put it in front of the policeman’s eyes again.

”Ian…“ whispered Barbara with worry and Ian held her hand comfortingly. This looked more than suspicious and most likely was something alien related. And another alien in their lives right after they finally got rid of one could mean only more trouble.

John Smith caught their worried faces and winked at them kindly again.

When the policeman finished reading he looked at the visitor with somewhat bigger respect. “Well then, Sir, I didn’t know... But well… it’s a secret, isn’t it? Ha, ha,“ his laugh was rather nervous and forced. “I guess that changes everything… But… what should I write in the protocols now? I can’t write that it was for… that office of yours… Or could I?“ he looked at the visitor with sudden hope in his face.

”No, you can’t,“ refused John Smith strictly, putting the sleeve back in his pocket. “But I’m sure you can think of something nice and clever, my friend,“ he tapped the policeman on the shoulder. “Maybe some lost documents, mistaken identity, a little bit of confusion here and there, what? Right. So I believe that’s settled then. And I guess we can go now…“ he added when no one moved and gestured at the two shocked teachers.

Policeman tiredly rubbed his forehead. “Well, yes, I think you’re free to go now.“

John Smith still had to almost push Ian and Barbara with his own hands out of the police station to get them on the street.

”Now then!“ clapped John Smith his hands together delighted when they were out of the building. “It went rather well, didn’t it?“ He met Ian’s frown and Barbara’s troubled look and shrugged: “What?“

”Who are you?“ asked Ian sharply.

A moment of confusion and then an expression of understanding passed across John Smith’s face and he grabbed his lapels in rather familiar pose. “Well, isn’t it obvious, Chatterton, hm?“

Ian and Barbara gasped.

”Doctor?“ said Barbara in amazement.

”But… you were older!“ spoke Ian.

The Doctor smiled. ”In fact, I’m much older _now_. It’s a long time ago that you travelled with me and Susan…“

”But how could it be? How could you look so different?“

”I’m a Time Lord and we have this possibility. When facing death we can regenerate – complete healing and renewal. Together with a change of appearance. I regenerated many times since we last met,“ explained the Doctor, watching both teachers with a friendly smile.

”And why did you come to help us now?“ wondered Ian.

The Doctor made an apologetic face. “Well, I think I owed it to you. After… you know… I kidnapped you a bit… at the beginning…“

”But Doctor, haven’t you changed history? By helping us with the police?“ asked Barbara seriously.

“Well…“ The Doctor hovered almost bashfully. “It was me myself who changed the history in the first place, when making you… well, almost prisoners on my ship, wasn’t it?“

Barbara couldn’t resist and suddenly hugged the Doctor warmly. He looked surprised at first but then hugged her back and squeezed her kindly.

”Thank you, Doctor,“ she said when she released him from the hug again. “They would probably have ended up accusing us of being spies.“

The Doctor looked rather guilty. “I’m sorry I caused you so much trouble,“ he said embarrassedly and then pointed down the road. “Shall we move on? We don’t want to stay standing in front of the police station, do we?“

”You’ve changed,“ remarked Ian thoughtfully when they set off down the road and when the Doctor turned to him to note something, Ian added. “I mean your nature. You would never apologize for such a thing in the times back then.“

The Doctor grinned. “I suppose I wouldn’t, Chatterton, no. It’s really a very long time since we last met. I mean… since I met you. For you, it’s just… How long? A few days?“

”A few days,“ nodded Barbara and sighed. “A few days full of madness to be honest. Questions and reproofs from family and friends… And Ian had almost nothing left from his things he had left in the flat. And then the questionings…“

”But it’s alright now that you helped us with the police,“ noted Ian and Barbara nodded gratefully. “Yes, thank you very much, Doctor.“

They turned around the corner and the two teachers spotted the familiar blue box ahead. Unlike other police boxes that were usually to see on the street at this time, though, this one looked rather new and clean.

”That’s…?“ Barbara pointed in the direction of the blue box.

The Doctor smiled. “It is. Would you like to look inside?“

Both Ian and Barbara looked at him uncomprehendingly, but the Doctor grinned. “It changes in there too, just like me.“

At the moment they reached the blue box and the Doctor pushed the door open.

”Don’t you lock it?“ said Ian surprised.

”Sometimes,“ shrugged the Doctor. “She takes care of herself pretty well,“ he noted and stepped in the door. “So? Are you coming?“

”Absolutely not!“ refused Barbara resolutely, but with a laugh, having the assurance of London ground of her own time safely underneath her feet. “We’ve just finally got home, you know? I don’t want to spend another who-knows-how-long-exactly in that crazy ship of yours!“

Ian originally inclined to look inside to see what changes the Doctor meant, but stuck together with Barbara and after she finished her talk, just shook his head. What does it matter after all how the inside of the TARDIS looks now?

The Doctor pulled a long face and then shrugged slowly. “Alright. I’m glad I still made it in time. For once,“ he added and gave them a warm smile. “That’s it then, goodbye!“ he whooped and before they could say anything in response, he disappeared in the TARDIS.

In no time the TARDIS door opened again though and the Doctor’s cheerfully grinning face appeared again. “Ah! I almost forgot!“ he said, handing a big closed envelope to Ian. “I found it the other day and thought you might want it, Chatterton,“ he smiled widely and when Ian haltingly took the envelope from him, he nodded in a greeting again. “Now then. Farewell, Chestertons!“ he winked and the TARDIS door shut close behind him again.

The familiar sound of the Tardis engines was heard and they instinctively made a few steps back while the Doctor’s ship started to dematerialise.

For once they watched the TARDIS disappearing from outside, musing on everything they had gone through aboard this ship.

When the TARDIS was gone, for a moment they stayed on the spot, watching the empty place where the TARDIS had stood before, like they expected that if they waited it would come again. Then Barbara knitted her forehead and spoke slowly: “Chestertons…? What did he mean?“

She looked at Ian, but he seemed to be not listening, being busy with opening the envelope from the Doctor.

Then he took out a picture and laughed shortly. “Look, it’s the picture we made when I found a camera and a dark room in the TARDIS! I must have forgotten about it when those creatures of light and dark appeared.“

Barbara looked at the picture and sighed slightly but a little smile showed on her face at the same time. “Lovely... You keep it, you took it after all,“ she returned the picture to Ian and added thoughtfully. “I think the old Doctor would never bother himself with giving you some picture… or apologize that he might have done something wrong…“

”Maybe not,“ said Ian, looking at the picture. “But I’m glad he gave it to us. No matter how happy I am to be back home, I’m glad to have at least a little souvenir as well,“ he admitted, putting the picture back in the envelope. “And that he came to help us with the police… Now Miss Wright, may I walk you to your home?“ he turned to Barbara, offering her his arm gallantly.

Barbara smiled and linked her arm through his. “It would be a pleasure, Mr. Chesterton,“ she replied frankly and slowly they set off to her home.

And somewhere out of time and space, inside the blue box, a man in a purple frock coat smiled at the picture of two of them on his Time-space visualizer, nodding to himself in agreement.

”Good luck, old friends. Good luck…“


End file.
